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The Aeshnidae, also called aeshnids, hawkers, or darners, is a family of dragonflies. The family includes the largest dragonflies found in North America and Europe and among the largest dragonflies on the planet.
List of Anisoptera of the World
{{Taxonbar, from=Q516862H Aeshnoidea Odonata of Asia Odonata of Africa Odonata of Australia Odonata of Europe Odonata of Oceania Odonata of North America Odonata of South America Taxa named by Jules Pierre Rambur Odonata families
The Aeshnidae, also called aeshnids, hawkers, or darners, is a family of dragonflies. The family includes the largest dragonflies found in North America and Europe and among the largest dragonflies on the planet.
Description
Common worldwide or nearly worldwide genera are ''Aeshna
''Aeshna'', or the mosaic darners, is a genus of dragonflies from the family Aeshnidae. Species within this genus are generally known as "hawkers" (Old World) or "darners" (New World).
Description
These are relatively large dragonflies. T ...
'' and ''Anax
(Greek alphabet, Greek: ; from earlier , ') is an ancient Greek word for "tribal chief, lord, (military) leader".. It is one of the two Greek titles traditionally translated as "king", the other being basileus, and is inherited from Mycenaean Gr ...
''. The African ''Anax tristis
(Greek: ; from earlier , ') is an ancient Greek word for "tribal chief, lord, (military) leader".. It is one of the two Greek titles traditionally translated as "king", the other being basileus, and is inherited from Mycenaean Greece. It is nota ...
'' has a wingspan over 125 mm, making it one of the world's largest known dragonflies.
There are 41 North American species in 11 genera in this family. Most European species belong to ''Aeshna''. Their American name "darner" stems from the female abdomens looking like a sewing needle, as they cut into plant stem when they lay their eggs through the ovipositor
The ovipositor is a tube-like organ used by some animals, especially insects, for the laying of eggs. In insects, an ovipositor consists of a maximum of three pairs of appendages. The details and morphology of the ovipositor vary, but typical ...
.
The dragonflies mate in flight. The egg
An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...
s are deposited in water or close by. The larvae ( nymphs or naiads) are generally slender compared to those of other families, with a long and flat extensible lower lip (labium). The larvae are aquatic predators, feeding on other insects and even small fish.
The adults spend large amounts of time in the air and seem to fly tirelessly with their four large and powerful wings. They can fly forwards or backwards or hover like a helicopter. The wings are always extended horizontally.
Their abdomens are long and thin. Most are colored blue and or green, with black and occasionally yellow. Their large, hemispherical, compound eyes touch in the midline and nearly cover their heads. They have an extremely good sight, and are voracious insect predators, using their sharp, biting mouthparts. They are, therefore, very beneficial.
All are extremely hard to catch because of their flying abilities and keen sight.
A proposal has been made to split this family into Aeshnidae and Telephlebiidae.
The name may have resulted from a printer's error in spelling the Greek ''Aechma'', "a spear". The spelling Aeschnidae has been intermittently used over a period of time, but is now abandoned for the original name Aeshnidae. However, derived genus names (such as ''Rhionaeschna
''Rhionaeschna'' is the scientific name of a genus of dragonflies from the family Aeshnidae
The Aeshnidae, also called aeshnids, hawkers, or darners, is a family of dragonflies. The family includes the largest dragonflies found in North Americ ...
'') retain the 'sch' spelling, as this is how they were first cited.
Genera
See also
*List of dragonflies (Aeshnidae)
{{for, other families, List of dragonflies
*''Acanthaeschna victoria''
*''Adversaeschna brevistyla''
*''Aeschnophlebia anisoptera''
*''Aeschnophlebia longistigma''
*''Aeschnophlebia optata''
*''Aeschnophlebia zygoptera''
*''Aeshna affinis''
*''Aesh ...
References
*Silsby, Jill (2001). ''Dragonflies of the World''. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C.External links
List of Anisoptera of the World
{{Taxonbar, from=Q516862H Aeshnoidea Odonata of Asia Odonata of Africa Odonata of Australia Odonata of Europe Odonata of Oceania Odonata of North America Odonata of South America Taxa named by Jules Pierre Rambur Odonata families